It's been 2 years this August since I went to PussyCat Lodge to pick up a little, very scared, feral cat. Amelia, as she was then known, had been at the Lodge for 6 months and had spent all of that time cowering in a corner. Pauline, who was a volunteer, knew I was a soft touch and kept giving me sad updates about this lonely little cat. I said I would take a look, but the fact that I took a carry box gave me away!
When I arrived, I peered into the corner and this ball of grey fluff stared back at me. Of-course, she came home! I renamed her Perdita which means lost, but that got shortened to Purdy.
Purdy when Dina first saw her
I made the spare bedroom her temporary home, amongst the bookcases. The first week was very worrying as she spent it squashed behind a chest of drawers, with only the tip of her fluffy tail showing. She didn't eat, drink or use the litter tray for 5 days, and then we had a breakthrough and she ate. For the next month, I would lie on the floor with my arm under the chest stroking her tail, then her feet. Then we progressed from the chest to a gap in the book case, still stroking and now up to the whole back leg. Slowly I filled the gap in the books and then she found an old bedside cabinet and the perfect place to hide. I put a chair next to it and continued stroking, now along the back and head and then the chin. All this took about 6 months!
Madam, so named because she is a proper little madam!
Then a big breakthrough, she come out of her hiding place while I was in the room. A couple of weeks after that I could stroke her outside the box. After about 9 months of hard work, she got onto my lap!
Opia came from PCLT nearly 9 years ago! She lost her eye to cat flu
and is called Opia because she is My-Opia (myopic = shortsighted)!
Two years on and she is slowly mixing with my 2 other girls. (They only exchange insults!) Purdy now loves being groomed and looks a princess in shades of grey when in full fluff mode. She lays on my lap and likes being kissed on the head. She is coming into my bedroom fairly regularly. She is very gentle and stops play bites when I say No. She has a fascination for ping-pong balls and has 4 or 5 dozen hidden about the room!
Beautiful, confident Purdy today
We have a few more targets to aim for; allowing me to pick her up from the floor, coming downstairs, and fully mixing with Madam and Opia (my 2 other cats). The secret is that I do not force her, everything is at her pace. Every target passed gives me a thrill and a feeling of privilege.
Dina Stanford, August 2005
